Research inventory and recommendations regarding marine forage species in Alaska

McGowan, D. W.; Ormseth, O.; Thorson, J. T.; Ferriss, B. E.; Rogers, L. A.; Siple, M. C.; Vollenweider, J. J.; Zaleski, M.; Zeppelin, T. K.

doi:10.25923/e866-xq29

i

Research inventory and recommendations regarding marine forage species in Alaska

2026
By McGowan, D. W. ; Ormseth, O. ; Thorson, J. T. ; ...
Series: NOAA technical memorandum NMFS AFSC 505

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Personal Author:

McGowan, D. W. ; Ormseth, O. ; Thorson, J. T. ; Ferriss, B. E. ; Rogers, L. A. ; Siple, M. C. ; Vollenweider, J. J. ; Zaleski, M. ; Zeppelin, T. K.
Corporate Authors:

Alaska Fisheries Science Center (U.S.). Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering Division. ; Alaska Fisheries Science Center (U.S.). Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management Division. ; Auke Bay Laboratories (Juneau, Alaska) ; United States. National Marine Fisheries Service. Alaska Regional Office. ; Marine Mammal Laboratory (U.S.)
NOAA Program & Office:

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; AFSC (Alaska Fisheries Science Center) ; AKR (Alaska Region)
Description:

Forage species (including classic “small pelagic fishes” as well as juvenile fishes and invertebrates) serve a key intermediate trophic role in marine food webs, functioning as both predator and prey, through which energy is transferred from primary consumers to higher trophic levels. Environmentally-driven changes in the availability of forage species as prey can have profound impacts on commercial, protected, and subsistence species (Pikitch et al. 2014), but projecting future impacts will be challenging. In particular, numerical ocean models can support seasonal and end-of-century forecasting for ocean physics and lower trophic levels (primary and some secondary producers), but forage species will likely require ongoing monitoring, process research, and syntheses to predict environmental impacts. Furthermore, stakeholders are increasingly interested in forage species impacts, as shown by North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPMFC) inquiries and legislative requests (Ormseth 2020).
Keywords:

Food Web Forage Large Marine Ecosystem Management Pelagic Trophic
Series:

NOAA technical memorandum NMFS AFSC 505
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25923/e866-xq29
Format:

pdf
Document Type:

Technical Memorandum
License:

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Rights Information:

CC0 Public Domain
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:d36f13299ba9283b612c82fb235c7404bedccdc3e1f4e3df696a8039596276b712bacbcb8910d9be917d0d945efe2122d5df3721a6e38bf902564a239874f5a9
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/72376/noaa_72376_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 930.05 KB ]

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